Xena sat on a log and watched as her petite, blond fiancee paced
back and forth in front of her, absentmindedly throwing her sais in
the air and catching it without missing a step. Not one sound could
be heard in the woods except the crackling of twigs underneath the
Bard's feet. After years of being together, Xena knew that
Gabrielle's actions meant one thing: The Bard was upset. And
Xena wasn't the only one who knew. Both of their steeds made
sure that they gave Gabrielle a wide berth.

After the fiftieth time of tossing her sais, the Warrior
Princess had enough. Xena got up, walked over to Gabrielle, caught
the airborne sai, and slowly handed it over to the Bard.
"Nervous?"

A tiny smile appeared on Gabrielle's face. "A
bit." The Amazon Queen took the sai. "It's not
everyday I learn about my powers." Even though she had
accepted the fact that Apollo was her father, Gabrielle wasn't
sure how she felt about her lament powers. Today was the first day
she would purposely use those powers.

"Hey, you’ll do fine."

The nervous feeling that plagued her all day began to come back,
and since she couldn't pace or toss her sais, she did what came
naturally: she talked. A lot. And her hands moved almost as fast as
her mouth. The more she talked, the more animated her gestures
became. "I don't know. I mean what if I can talk to
animals? What if I said something wrong, and a pack of wolves
attack? And you know what this means. I can't eat something
I've just talk to. And what if I can shoot fireballs? I might
accidentally blow up a village? Or.."

Xena's ears listened while her eyes watched as Gabrielle
flung her hands about with the sais still in them. Fearing that
Gabrielle may hurt herself, Xena reached out and grabbed her by the
wrists. "Gabrielle, calm down. Before you can learn to control
your powers, you need to steady your nerves." The Warrior
Princess guided her love to the log and as she sat down, Xena
stepped behind the log and began rubbing her soulmate's
shoulders. "Relax. Everything will be fine."

Within moments, loving hands worked out the knots as Gabrielle
closed her eyes and began to relax. "That feels
nice."

"Well just remember, you owe me."

Suddenly, Gabrielle straightened up. "He's here."
The two of them watched as a bright white globe of light appeared
and slowly dissipated as Apollo came into view.